After the Storm
by Sweet Little Darling
Summary: Post CACW. "They are torturing him! Tony might be dead as we speak. It's been a month since Civil War and Tony Stark is on his breaking point with the government breathing down his neck. When he finds himself captured by people who want to raise HYDRA the team find themselves back together to save one of their own. Whump!Tony.
1. Iron Heart

**Chapter One: Iron Heart**

Tony Stark didn't play well with others. At least that had been the best way to describe him a few years back. Hell, he had even admitted that, but that had been before he had meet the Avengers. Before he hadn't been selfish exactly, but he had to shoulder everything and god knew that he had been betrayed enough to have some deep trust issues.

But after the Battle of New York, he had grudgingly admitted to Bruce Banner that maybe the other guys weren't that bad. And after the whole mess with Ultron he was convince that they weren't just friends, they were family.

Tony had gotten attached. Tony never got attached, not even to a pet goldfish. But the Avengers had creeped up on him. Hell, he had even started to think of them as family as weird as that had been.

For once in his life he had friends, teammates, people other than Rhodey and Happy who wanted to have a drink with him and would warn him when his head was getting too big for his ego.

But after the whole Civil War mess and finding out Bucky killed his parents and Steve's betrayal. Well, could they blame him if he was hurt. Once again he was alone and now the tower felt too lonely with just himself and Vision.

Natasha was on the run, Pepper was gone, and the others wanted nothing to do with him. Tony gripped his whisky glass. He wanted to be mad, he really did. He wanted to feel that anger that he had felt when he was fighting Steve and Bucky, how he had been so mad that he had wanted to crush Steve's perfect teeth and skull against the window.

But Tony just felt sad and hurt, if that was even possible. After all, everyone knew that Tony Stark had no heart. He took another sip of his drink. Maybe finishing a bottle of whisky was not the best idea especially so close to bedtime. Besides he was fighting a cold.

"Put some music will you FRIDAY?" He told the AI. He wasn't ready to sleep yet. "Some Black Sabbath. As loud as you can, don't let me be interrupted, not by General Ross, not by anyone."

"Yes, Sir." Friday responded as Black Sabbath started playing and Tony started bobbing his head to the music. Yes, the music relaxed him. He started swinging his hips slightly to the music and he did what he did best. He tinkered.

He could have heard the music over the drilling of the tools that he used on his Iron Man suit. Vision was currently with Rhodey helping him with his exercise to help regain some of his movement. Rhodey told him that this was not necessary, but Vision insisted on going there every afternoon in order to help him.

As much as Tony liked him, he could really do without Vision for a few hours. If he wasn't cooking awful food, he was pouting over missing Wanda. Apparently he wanted to get into the Maximoff twin's pants.

The music suddenly turned off. "FRIDAY, what is it? I was listening to that; you're not going to take a nap are you?" Tony frowned. "FRIDAY?"

The lights started flickering on and off and he put down his tools. "Vision? Is that you, I'm not really in the mood for jokes right now."

Tony heard someone walking and he turned around and saw a bald man with a blue suit. "Who the hell are you and how the hell did you get here?"

"Please Mr. Stark, don't ask any pointless question. I admit your system, FRIDAY was it was a little more advance that we had anticipated, but it seems that we cracked the code, didn't we." He gave him a smile. "I'm sorry you must think me very rude. My name is Vincent."

"I don't care what your name is," Tony said, he had his watch ready on his wrist like he always did. With the push of a button he would have his Iron Man suit at his disposition. "What the hell do you want? And you better answer because otherwise things are not going to be pretty."

"No, they're not," Vincent said slowly and Tony felt the piercing of several needles hitting his back. Stupid him, he had thought that Vincent had been the only one. That was a rooky mistake, even Parker wouldn't have been as stupid. The needles pierced his skin and they seemed to make his muscles go numb like very intense muscle relaxers.

He tried to speak, but found out he couldn't and he felt as if his legs turned to jelly as he fell to the floor. "That's it," Vincent said in a sickening soothing voice. "Just relax Mr. Stark we will take good care of you."

Tony wanted to answer back at him, to spit in his face. But he couldn't do that, his face had gone numb as well as his whole body, and then suddenly everything turned black.

* * *

"You can't do that," Steve Rogers said as he scolded Wanda Maximoff as she turned away from peeking at the window. She looked both guilty and annoyed. "It may have been a month since the whole accords mess, but I still broke all of you out of jail. All of us are wanted criminals." He turned to look at Sam Wilson and Scott Lang who were entertaining themselves by playing video games. Clint Barton was video chatting with his family. T'Challa was back in his island kingdom with the scientists that were helping Bucky remember.

"So Stark gets to stay at his precious mansion while the rest of us are cramped here, being hunted at like wild dogs. How is that fair?" Wanda said bitterly. She still hadn't forgiven Tony for the fact that he had tried to lock her in her room and then because of him had spent some time in that floating hell.

"I know it isn't easy," Steve said. "But we just have to muddle through. Remember, this place is much better than being dead or in that prison."

Wanda gave him a small smile. "True. I'm cooking us some dinner."

As Wanda started opening drawers and getting things for dinner, Steve looked at his cell phone. Still no missed calls. Was he an idiot for thinking that Tony would call? He wanted nothing to do with Steve.

Thanks to Fury and Clint's contacts they had managed to be in hiding in a small cabin in Michigan in the middle of nowhere. It was a bit cramped, but better than the alternative. Though he doubted he could take much of Scott and Sam's video game challenges.

There was a knock on the door and Steve frowned as he went towards the door. No one usually came here not even the post man. "Steve," an annoyed voice came out from the other end. "Open up."

Steve relaxed. Natasha Romanoff. He opened the door and saw Nick Fury. Both looked tense and worried. Natasha bit her lip. "We have a situation, it's Stark."

-End of Chapter One-

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	2. The Interrogation

**Chapter Two: The Interrogation**

No one spoke for what seemed like hours when in reality, it had only been seconds. But Steve had seen everyone stiffened. Tony Stark had not been very popular with this group, not that Steve blame them. It had been Tony's fault in the first place that had caused them to be stuck on that floating raft of doom.

The only one that didn't seem to show anger was Steve, he guessed it was because he had never hated Tony. Sure he had been angry and upset over the whole mess, but he didn't hate the guy. Both of them had screwed up.

It had been a few weeks since the whole Civil War mess and Steve had slowly started losing hope that they would ever talk again, since it was obvious that their friendship had hit rock bottom with the whole Bucky mess. But now Natasha and Fury were both here thanks to a Stark problem.

Steve gripped his hands, both Fury and Natasha were in hiding from the govement, they wouldn't be here unless they absolutely had too. Which meant it was bad, either Tony had committed a stupidity, the spider boy had been hurt, or-Steve didn't want to think of any other alternatives.

"If it has anything to do with Stark, we're not interested," Scott said. "What's done is done, or is he looking to pick a fight."

"Oh, pipe down," Natasha said as she looked at the rest of the team. "I know no one here is exactly on Stark's welcome list and I don't blame you, but whatever happened, happened and now it's time to push everything aside and focus on something else and let's try to remember that before all of this happened Tony Stark was our friend."

"Past tense, Nat," Clint said. "Do you know how long it has been since I saw my family."

"Everyone was at fault about everything that happened, I thought that after all you had lost you would have realized that. Apparently not." Nick Fury said sharply. "Tony Stark has been kidnapped by members of HYDRA."

There was a stunned silence and Wanda was the first one to break it by asking. "How? Why?"

Fury sighed, both him and Natasha looked tired. "They hacked FRIDAY, apparently Vision was with Colonel Rhodes so Stark was alone. They did a cheap trick I imagine because Stark couldn't even get to his suits. They must have drugged him or attacked him from behind."

"But why would HYDRA take him?" Steve asked, forcing himself to remain calm under a tough situation, but the truth was that his mind was racing. "What reason could they have for taking Tony?"

"Oh, I could give you plenty of reasons," Fury said through gritted teeth. "Number one being that Stark is friends with Rogers, the same Captain America that outed HYDRA. They want a chew toy that they can rattle in our faces."

"But that's not all," Natasha said as she folded her arms across her chest. "You forget that even though Tony has a smart mouth he is a genius. They could do the same thing that they did to Bucky brainwash him and have him create all kinds of weapons."

"No!" Steve practically shouted. "We are not going to let that happen, right?"

Sam was the first one to speak up. "You're the boss."

Clint nodded. "We can't let this get out of hand any longer. We'll do whatever it takes to get Stark back. Nat, Fury what do you need us to do."

Fury smiled at them. "First we need to get to headquarters."

Steve frowned. "I thought SHIELD headquarters had long been destroyed."

"Well, you thought wrong."

* * *

As it turned out Fury had enough tricks up his sleeve and the remaining Avengers were taken to a destination in the outskirts of New York. Near Brooklyn, Steve thought fondly. He frowned when Fury stopped the car that he was driving.

"A storage unit?" Scott was the first one to speak out. "No offense man, but I was expecting something way cooler."

Natasha rolled her eyes. "It's inside dummy." She pressed her hand out of the window and rapidly tapped a password on the keypad as well as get her fingerprints scanned. The double doors opened and the car entered a dark basement followed by labs filled with scientists and other members that had been closed to SHIELD.

"You sure no one will ever find it, Fury," Clint said frowning. "It looks a little obvious if you ask me."

Fury shook his head. "It has special technology that once we go in, make it invisible to the human eye. A new prototype. We have only been at it for a few months, but it has work nicely since then. Besides it's farm country Barton, the most that comes near it are sheep and something a few curious photographers nothing more."

"What are we going to do about Stark?" Steve interrupted.

"Patience Rogers we'll get there." Fury said as he parked the car and everyone got out. "Not that I need to remind you, but you're still wanted by the government so try and keep a low profile will you?"

"I thought all of these were on our side," Wanda said with a raised eyebrow.

"They are, but I wasn't talking about here," Fury said. "I was talking about outside, just in case- "

"Stark," Sam finished and he nodded as he got out of the car and motioned for everyone to follow him to his office which was located all the way in the back. They entered the room which was large and had a huge television screen. A couple of computers, all of which were being handled by Maria Hill. Only Vision was sitting in one of the chairs with an upset expression. It was clear that he was blaming himself for what happed to Tony even if it wasn't his fault. Vision acknowledge them with a nod, but he only flashed the briefest smile in Wanda's direction before turning back to the screen.

Maria nodded her greeting towards them and Fury patted her shoulder. "Any news, Hill? About Stark? About his whereabouts?"

Maria shook her head, it was obvious that she was frustrated, but she was trying not to show it. "No, sir. We managed to get into FRIDAY, the only things we were able to find out was that Stark was in his lab when he was abducted and that he was most likely ambushed because none of his suits, nor FRIDAY was contacted. This happened around 7PM last evening."

"That's impossible," Sam shook his head. "Tony always has his suits; he even has a watch or something that can make him have his suits."

Natasha shrugged. "Someone's bested him, or kept him talking long enough for them to attack."

"We're getting something." Maria said as she started typing on the computer. The screen went black again and an agent came into the room. "Director, an unknown source wants to send a message. They are claiming that they have Tony Stark, should I accept- "

"Yes, god damn it, yes accept the message."

-End of Chapter Two-

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	3. Saving Tony

**Chapter Three: Saving Tony**

Everyone didn't say anything as Hill quickly issued orders to other nearby agents to try and located where the signal was coming from. Steve could feel his hands being slicked with sweat. This was all his fault, he couldn't help but think, if this fight hadn't happened in the first place then maybe Tony wouldn't have found himself in this situation.

But then the government would have own them and Bucky would be in jail or dead. Nope, none of these things had a good ending in whatever way he looked at them. In fact, all of them seemed to be pretty disastrous the way he looked at them.

He could sense everyone stiffen all around him, apparently the We-Hate-Stark agenda had been briefly put on a hiatus. He felt Natasha squeezed his hand and Steve was grateful for the gesture. He knew that Romanoff didn't generally let her feelings be seen, but at the moment she was just as worried about Tony as he was.

"Sir," Maria said. "We're getting a video. Apparently HYDRA is trying to send a message and it's a live footage."

Fury's jaw clenched. "Play it and tell the other agents to keep a lookout. I want answers Hill, where the video came. Where they are keeping Stark anything that you can find, don't let anything slip. Right now would be a good time for Banner to show his face."

At first the image on the screen was blurry as if it was having a difficult time getting a signal, but then everything became clear again and the image that they showed was ghastly. Tony was being held by thick, metal ropes that seemed to be cutting into the circulation of his skin. They could already see that the parts of his skin that should be pink were slowly going from purple to black from lack of blood flow.

Tony's left eye was swollen shut and a deep purple and there was a sharp cut across his left cheek. His black jacket looks dirty and the white shirt that he was wearing was caked with dry blood, dry water stains, and dirt.

"Sir," Vision was the first to speak out as he looked towards his creator who was in obvious pain.

"Hey Vis," Tony said as he raised his head weakly. "Well, well it seems that the gang is all here. Don't let Ross see you, the old man will probably burst a vein."

"Stark," Steve spoke trying to keep his voice from shaking ever if he could tell that there were obvious marks of torture on Stark's body. "We will get you out of there, I swear. Tell us everything you can about HYDRA- "

A pair of hands seize Tony by his jaw refusing to let him speak. Vincent step forward. "Now, I'm afraid Mr. Stark can't give away all of our secrets or well will never see each other again and you Avengers I'm hoping to see very much of you. Pardon my rudeness, my name is Vincent."

"We don't care what the hell your name is," Clint hissed. "We just want Stark, so hand him over before we make you regret it. Vincent gave him a cold smile. "Ah, Mr. Barton is it. Why on earth would we capture Stark and then release him to you on a whim? That's not very smart. I have no desire to hurt Mr. Stark perhaps loosen that stubborn tongue of his, but nothing else."

"Barton, don't tell them anything or I will kill you myself." Tony manages to hiss through a close mouth. A dark look came across Vincent's face as he slapped Tony across the jaw. Tony let out a grunt.

"That's enough," Wanda spoke up. "Let him go, what is it that you are looking for."

"Finally, the pretty lady is waiting to listen." Vincent said. "After a long talk with Mr. Stark we noticed that there are some interesting things happening with SHIELD even though the organization has dissolved. This agreement was apparently between Director Nick Fury, Dr. Bruce Banner, and your dear friend Mr. Tony Stark."

Several pair of eyes turned to stare at Fury and Natasha was the one to question him. "Fury, what the hell is he talking about?"

For a moment Fury didn't say anything until Steve slammed his first against the table. "Damn it, Fury if you know something-answer the damn question. Stark is currently being tortured for this information."

"The Aquarius Project," Fury said. "It's a new project, myself, Stark, and Banner had been working on before Banner went MIA. Using parts of Stark's old arc reactor and a new invention that at the current time is just a porotype we would be able to use said energy to sense when there are people who are trying to cause damage."

"You mean like a metal detector," Scott said. "For bad people."

"Yes, Mr. Lang, exactly that," Vincent said as he tightened his grip around Tony's neck cutting off all of his oxygen. Tony struggled for breath, his eyes becoming wide with fear. It was painful to watch. "As you can probably see that would make our work be torn to shreds and it would really ruin my plans. I have an alternative proposition. Use you plan Aquarius for HYDRA usage."

"Over my dead body!" Steve hissed. "Our motive is to destroy HYDRA."

Vincent said sarcastically. "Well, I'm afraid you must put your dream on the back burner. Since Mr. Stark here won't tell us anything, despite how nice I've been, I have to turn to other sources. Stark won't speak, Banner is MIA, so that only leaves you director. So director I will contact you in a few days seeing as I'm very generous. If you give me what I need to start the Aquarius project I will gladly hand over Mr. Stark if not, well if I were you I would start preparing the funeral arrangements."

"Fury, don't give them anything, don't-

The Avengers saw blood on the screen as one of Vincent's henchmen grabbed Tony by his dark hair and pushed his head against the brick wall several times. "Tony!" several voices said at once.

"Three days, director," Vincent said. "That is all I will give you. Three days make use of them or fear the consequences." The screen went black and everyone turned to stare at Fury.

"How could you not tell us about this?" Sam demanded. "Were you and Stark going to keep this a secret for the rest of your life?"

"It's not like that," Fury tried to explain himself. "It was just a prototype and like Stark said we are not handing it over to HYDRA. We need more time."

"They are torturing him," Natasha spoke up. "Tony might be dead as we speak. We need to do something."

"We don't need to do anything rash," Fury said as he turned to Steve who was heading out the door. "Rogers, where do you think you're going."

Steve looked up at him. "To formulate a team."

* * *

"Of course I will help, Steve," T'Challa said as he talked to Steve from his Island home of Wakanda. "Especially when Tony is concern. What can I do to help?"

"It's kind of a delicate situation," Steve said. "And I know it's a lot to ask, but I need someone on my side who knows what they are up against."

"I see," T'Challa said. "You want Barnes. My group of scientist could reawaken him of course. But are you sure that this is what you want? That this will be the best plan to save Stark."

Steve nodded. "I do. I'll flight out right now."

"No need, we'll bring him to you."

-End of Chapter Three-

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	4. Assemble

**Chapter Four: Assemble**

"Are you sure that there isn't more that I can do, Steve?" T'Challa said as he looked at the blond super soldier. Both of them were currently standing in the platform of SHIELD headquarters. T'Challa had arrived by private plane and he and his group of scientists had deposited Bucky safely.

Bucky was scheduled to wake in a few hours which would give Steve and the others plenty of time to access Tony's location and decide on a plan of attack. "No, thank you T'Challa. It was kind enough to bring Bucky here. But this is our fight, not yours and we won't like to drive you to our messes. Besides we know that you have a country to run. Still, we appreciate your help."

T'Challa shook his hand. "No need to thank me, I just hope that Tony gets off ok. These HYDRA business seems to creep out of nowhere. If you need anything, anything at all. Please don't hesitated to call me. I will have my best men and women with me."

Steve nodded. "I appreciate your offer, hopefully we won't need it. I'm assembling a team together."

T'Challa nodded. "From what you told me Stark and Dr. Banner had a pretty good thing going, a plan to save the world. Make it a better place."

Steve nodded. "Well, you know how it goes. You have something good and then someone wants to destroy it and use it for evil. Thanks for everything T'Challa. I know you have a plane to catch."

T'Challa smiled. "The good thing is that it leaves when I order it too. Are you going to send Bucky back to our establishments, once Tony gets rescued?"

Steve hesitated. "I don't know. It was hard enough the first time."

T'Challa nodded. "You are lucky to have many good friends, captain. I think someone is looking for you.

"Huh?" Steve turned around and saw a scrawny looking kid, nervously playing with his hands in his pockets. He fumbled when he saw Steve. "Hi, sir, your highness, captain, um, sir how do you want me to call you. I'm cool with anything to be honest."

T'Challa let an amused smile play on his face. "I better get going. Good luck with everything." Without another look back he went towards his plane. Steve approached the quivering teen. "What are you doing here, kid? Queens, right?"

"Uh, yeah," Peter mumbled. "Queens and you're from Brooklyn and I'm not a kid, and I'm know I'm kind of short, but I'm almost sixteen."

"I'm Steve," Steve said. "What's your name?"

"Peter. Uh, Peter Parker, sir." Peter said.

"How's the eye?"

Peter gave an embarrassed shrug. "I've had worse." He stuffed his hands in his pocket. "Now that we got acquainted and everything. Would you mind telling me, where Mr. Stark is, because he hasn't been answering my phone calls and he promised that he would come over and come teach me how the new gadgets work and I'm not trying to be a pain, but- "

"Whoa, slow down, kid." Steve hesitated. How was he supposed to tell this kid, that practically worship the ground that Tony walked on that his mentor might currently be tortured or worse. "Tony-Tony he isn't here."

Peter looked at him disappointed. "Aw, crap where is he?" Steve didn't answer. He had always been a rather terrible liar and it wouldn't help if he started lying now. "Mr. Rogers, where is Mr. Stark? I can tell that something is wrong, is written all over your face. You call tell me."

Steve nodded. "Long story short, Tony is compromise. He was ambushed and taken by HYDRA agents a few days ago for a prototype that he and Dr. Banner were working on."

Peter's face went pale. "Is he ok? Is he hurt? Is he sick? What happened?"

"Peter, calm down," Steve said tightly. "We don't know much yet; all we know from the hostage video is that Tony is being kept by some guy name Vincent. We managed to trace down the video. He's in some place in Eastern Europe, right now we're getting a team to help him."

Peter nodded, his lower lip trembling slightly. "Alright, we're going to help him, tell me what you need me to do."

"Whoa, we are not doing anything. You're staying out of this, Peter, no excuses. You're a kid, and I know how much you care about Tony, but we are not accepting your help."

"I said I wanted to help," Peter said stubbornly. "And I'm sorry Mr. Rogers. With all due respect sir, I'm not going anywhere until I'm one hundred percent sure that Mr. Stark is going to be ok."

Steve looked back at Peter's determination. "Fine, but you're staying close by and if I say is too dangerous. You have to go back to safety."

"Are we clear?"

Peter nodded. "Perfectly."

* * *

Tony felt something cold on his face like ice, he also felt incredibly dizzy as if he had a horrible hangover. It took a moment for his vision to settled and when he did he wished that he could just close his eyes again or better yet be dead.

It took him a moment for him to remember his ordeal, but then everything had become painfully clear. He was in a dark room, that might as well resemble a basement and it was clear that it hadn't been used in decades.

"Mr. Stark?" He felt someone tapping on his face and Vincent's ugly face came into view. "We are glad to see that you are finally awake Mr. Stark we have some business to discuss." Tony looked at his surroundings and saw that he was tied up to a mental table with his arms strapped down. "No kidding." The sarcasm never left his voice. It was the only thing that was keeping him calm. "Not giving my dear old friends a chance, huh?"

Vincent shrugged. "Forgive me, that I can't fully trust your friends. It seems that they need some motivation."

"So you're giving them, that, huh? Aren't you sweet." Vincent ignored him as he positioned the straps so that Tony couldn't move an inch. He lowered something on Tony's head, that felt heavy like a mental helmet. Tony felt his anxiety creeping in, but there was no way in hell that he would beg for mercy. He would rather be Loki's lap dog.

He heard Vincent typing something on the computer. "Just relax Mr. Stark. This will hurt. A lot."

Before Tony could say a word, he felt a jolt of electricity and he let out a scream.

* * *

"They told me that you were awake," Steve forced himself to be cheerful as he went to Bucky's room. He was sitting down, wearing a hospital gown with a far off look on his face. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine," Bucky said with a slight smile. "Am I cured? Wait-it's too soon, even for them. Steve, what's going on?"

"It's Tony," Steve said. "He's been taken by HYDRA agents, we don't know how many, but we need to get him back and we're outnumber. We would like your help if you're up for it."

Bucky stared at Steve, slightly shocked. "I doubt that the guy wants to see me after he found out what I did to his parents. He almost killed me last time, Steve and . . .I'm still not well, what if I snap and hurt someone."

Steve placed a hand on his shoulder. "That won't happen."

"How do you know?"

"Because I believe in you," Steve said with a smile. "We need all hands on deck, Buck. I know you and Tony didn't get the best start and I know that he probably hates my guts. But he's my friend and my family too, so will you help me."

Bucky gave him a wry smile. "You give the orders captain. I guess we better suit up."

-End of Chapter Four-

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	5. Fight to the Finish

**Chapter Five: Fight to the Finish**

Bulgaria. Apparently that's where Tony Stark was and where HYDRA's secret location was located. Steve knew one thing for sure they needed to move fast, he felt his jaw clench. If HYDRA knew that they were after them. Well, who know what else might happen. They might kill Stark or they might capture him forever and use his as a sort of taunt and the Avengers would never hear from him again.

Fury had let them borrow a Quinjet which was generous of him, since he only had a handful and they were still wanted criminals whether they wanted or not. Clint was driving the jet after managing to get into quick contact with his family. The seat next him was empty because Tony usually was the co-pilot and no one wanted to take the seat.

Wanda was curled up against one of the corners, looking exhausted and Steve had draped a blanket all over her. Bucky was sitting in one of the chairs looking quietly at his lap with Sam a few feet away from him. Neither man had said much during the entire journey, but it seemed that they had come to an understanding. Scott was looking at pictures of his daughter. Natasha had her arms folded across her chest and she was keeping a close eye on Peter who was looking at every part of the quinjet. He was acting like an overexcited puppy let out of his cage for the first time. Steve sighed. He was going to have to keep a close eye on Peter. He was already regretting letting the kid join. He knew that Peter had good intentions at heart, but he was still just a kid. Not to mention that Tony would probably kill Steve if he found out that Peter had been hurt in some way.

Fury and the rest of them hadn't exactly been thrilled when Steve had told them that he had recruited Peter especially since the kid hadn't even graduated high school. But as long as the kid stayed out of the way. There shouldn't be harm.

He walked towards Bucky and said gently. "How are you feeling, Buck?"

Bucky nodded. "Nice. Anything is better than a jail cell I guess. How much longer until we reach Bulgaria?"

"A few hundred miles." Clint said from where he was driving. "We're going to have to stop a few twenty or so miles from our destination so that they don't get suspicious. Fury said he was going to provide transportation."

Natasha leaned forward. "Is there anything you can tell us, at all about HYDRA? Something that will help us keep our guard up?"

Bucky thought for a moment, feeling a bit uncomfortable with all the stares. In all honesty, he hated thinking about HYDRA, but they were counting on him. Not to mention, that he owed them a favor or two after everything that had happened.

Bucky nodded. "They tend to keep a lot of doors, a few of them are trapped doors to keep prisoners from escaping. Watch out for the row of buttons by the walls-they are hard to see. They are the ones that control everything. How we get in. How we get out." He grimaced. "If you guys don't mind the second Vincent or any of his lackeys start to chant whatever phrases they used to control me, I'm getting out, there is no use putting you guys in danger. Stark has to be in one of two places in the cells or in the labs."

There was an awkward silence that Peter broke with his overenthusiastic question. "Uh, Mr. Barnes, can I please try your arm?"

* * *

Tony raised his head, but in all honesty he was surprised that he was still conscience after everything that had happened when he had been stuck in that torture device. He moved his hands slightly, but found out that they were still attached to whatever was holding him down. Damn it.

He felt his throat tightening as well as a sense of blurriness. He couldn't remember exactly what had happened. He seemed to have lost all conscience of time and that was never a good thing, if Tony remember correctly that was only one step closer to insanity.

Every single cell in his body seemed to be screaming, even though Vincent had powered off the machine hours ago. Or had it only been minutes? He couldn't tell. They were doing something to him, Tony knew as much, otherwise they wouldn't have bothered capturing him, just for good old' fashion torture. They would have just killed him on the spot. No, they were planning something, but what?

Tony bit his lip. He hated being kept in the dark. But a small part in the back of his head, already knew what they wanted to do to him. They wanted to turn him into another super soldier. And not the goody two shoes type Steve was, but the kind that Bucky was. The Bucky that had killed his parents. A killing machine with no remorse, for whoever ended up dead.

Tony bit his tongue. No that couldn't happen to him. He would put a bullet in his own head, before he let that happened. He flinched when he felt bright light on his face from a flashlight. Vincent's head popped in and he had a serene looking smile on his face. The bastard.

"Feeling rested Mr. Stark?"

"I will when I rip your eyeballs from their eyes sockets." Tony quipped.

Vincent at first looked frustrated, but that quickly left his eyes. He started taunting Tony in that disgusting voice of him. "I wouldn't get cocky, Mr. Stark especially when you're a one-man party. Your friends still haven't arrived; I guess I was right. They have given up on you, a lost cause."

Ouch, that hurt. "What do you want?" Tony managed to say, amiss all of the pain. "Is it money? Weapons?"

Vincent shook his head. "What HYDRA wants Mr. Stark is you."

* * *

Steve's entire muscles ached and he wished that he would have, have slept more, but he was glad that he had gotten any shut eye at all, concerning everything that was going on. They had landed exactly forty miles from where the HYDRA based was located in the middle of the woods.

It was freaking cold.

The rest of the Avengers got off sleepily and Steve was having second thoughts about having Peter joined them especial when he saw how skinny and young Peter looked in his hoodie. "Peter, you stay- "

"We went over this already, Captain," Peter said firmly. "I'm going, besides you already promise that I could go if I stayed out of harm's way and I'm not leaving Mr. Stark."

Bucky smirked. "He's got you there, Steve."

"Besides the kid has moves," Sam pointed out. "We are going to need him."

"Guys," Scott spoke when he noticed the flashing lights that were approaching. A large green van stopped. "Looks like our transportation is here."

They expected a SHIELD agent or even Fury himself to exit the car, but they were surprised by who was driving. A dark hair man with glasses approached them giving the stunned group a sheepish smile. "Hi, guys."

It was Bruce Banner.

-End of Chapter Five-

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	6. Finding Tony

**Chapter Six: Finding Tony**

For a while no one spoke, instead they all seemed to be looking at Bruce with shocked looking eyes as if they could hardly believe that it was him. Steve noticed that Bruce had grown thinner and that he had recently stopped shaving, but he was still the same Bruce. Steve was the first one to speak. "Bruce, what are you doing here?"

Bruce smiled. "Is that any way to greet an old friend."

Clint shrugged. "Well, you weren't very friendly the last time we saw you and you ran out on us without even a goodbye."

Bruce looked apologetic at him. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to run off like that. Believe me, I know that wasn't the best approach. But I'm back now and I heard what happened. All of you got into a huge mess the second that my back was turn. I was in Sweden volunteering at the local hospital among other things. Then I heard about what happened to Tony, at first I thought Tony was just pulling a prank like usual, but then I saw that it was something more serious. I though HYDRA had long since gone."

Scott scoffed. "Well, they keep popping up like the plague."

"I contacted Fury, he's the one who send me over with your transportation," Bruce said as he opened the doors of the truck and let them see the motorcycles that were there. There were only six. "Some of you are going to have to pair off."

Steve nodded. "Let's get going. Sam give me a hand will you?"

Sam nodded as he and Steve started pulling the motorcycle out of the back of the truck. Bruce caught Natasha's eye as he lowered his own eyes lightly. "I'm sorry Nat, about everything, you know."

Natasha snorted, her cheeks slightly blushing. "Took you long enough, now come on enough moping. We have a billionaire to save." She looked over her shoulder and saw that Bruce was looking slightly confused towards the new members. "Oh, before I forget we have, had some new additions to our team since the last time you've been here. This is Scott Lang, otherwise known as Ant Man."

"Hi," Scott said, squeezing Bruce's hand so hard that he was sure that he was going to break it. "I'm Scott, big fan Mr. Banner. Don't let all those people get to you. I'm think you're great."

"Um, thanks."

"And this is Peter Parker, otherwise known as Spiderman."

Peter shook Bruce's hand practically squealing with excitement. "Hi, Mr. Bruce. I'm Peter, I would love to hear more about that device you and Mr. Stark have been working on. I think it's cool."

Bruce nodded and made some promises, but he leaned forward and whispered to Natasha. "Um, Nat? Isn't he a little young, he looks thirteen."

Natasha rolled her eye. "So he's a little on the young side. Give him a break, Bruce. Besides he's Tony's pet project or something. Besides the kid can kick some ass. And finally this is Bucky Barnes, Roger's best friend."

Bruce looked a little alarmed when he saw the winter soldier, but didn't say anything. Instead he simply said. "Nice to meet you."

It took them twenty minutes to get towards the HYDRA base. It was a large, gray building with iron gates. The picture of a skull with tentacles was placed on the large doors, HYDRA's symbol. Bucky nodded. "This is it."

Steve saw that his friend had gone pale. "Are you ok?"

Bucky shook his head. "Never been better. There are two doors, the main one and the back entrance. We should split up. We'll get to Stark faster."

Steve nodded. "Wanda, Sam, Bruce, Vision and Scott go down the back room. Me, Bucky, Nat, Clint, and Peter will go towards the main door. Let us know if you find anything and keep your eyes open."

They nodded as everyone went in their opposite direction, Steve managed to kick the main door down. There was no one inside, there just seemed to be an endless array of gray hallways and empty rooms. Peter laughed uneasily. "Does anyone get a feeling that we're in a haunted house? I mean the long hallway, the creepy sign, it kind of reminds me of The Conjuring or something."

"Kid," Clint murmured. "Give it a rest."

"We can't be nearing the end of the hallway already," Natasha said with a sigh as she gripped her gun. But they had reached the end of the hallway and that had led them towards the circular main room where they were greeted by the other team members.

"Well, this didn't lead us anywhere." Wanda said with a sigh. "It's completely empty."

Vision nodded. "I checked myself. Mr. Stark is not anywhere in the rooms and there doesn't seem to be a trace of human life anywhere."

Peter shook his head. "So we're back to square one. How could they have disappeared so fast?"

Bucky snorted. "It's basically in their job description. For all we know they could be thousands of miles away by now."

Defeated the Avengers exited the HYDRA base and got on the motorcycles that Fury had provided. Steve looked at Natasha. "Now what?"

Natasha looked at him with sympathy. "Now there is nothing to do, but wait. We head back to base and see if HYDRA sent any more taunts."

"But that could take months!"

Natasha didn't argue with him. "I'm afraid that it's the only option that we have, Steve."

The rest of the team seemed glum as they continued their way back towards where they had left the quinjet. Scott frowned from where he was riding with Clint. "Um, guys does anyone see that bright light right ahead."

Before anyone could respond they saw a flash of light as everyone fell back downwards. Steve's vision was blurry for a second, but his eyes caught something red. The suit. "Tony?"

The Iron Man suit was position in the center of his fallen comrades. "Tony, it's me. You're alive, you scared us, Tony!"

Tony didn't respond, Vision floated towards him, looking relieved. "Mr. Stark I am so glad that you're safe."

Tony turned toward Vision and blasted him with another blast. Vision, taken back fell to the floor.

"Vision!" Wanda said running towards him.

"He's been brainwashed," Bucky groaned besides him as he stood up. "We need to knock him out or something."

"Got it," Steve said as he looked towards Nat and Clint, they had loaded up on tranquillizers just in case Tony was in pain. Scott diminish his size turning into tiny ant man and flew towards Tony, managing to get inside his suit. "Relax man," Scott said. "We just want to talk."

"Who the hell are you?" Tony screamed.

"Seriously, we are already had this conversation."

Peter used his web shooters to tie Tony against one of the trees. "I'm really sorry about this, Mr. Stark. Wanda?"

Wanda approached him and started using telekinesis, to try to get towards his mind. Tony struggled and tried to snap out of it. "It's not working, he's fighting it."

Tony broke out of the web shooters and lunged towards Peter, but Clint stopped him by throwing arrows towards Tony that blasted, destroying some of the working armor. "We just want to help, man."

"Um, guys should I hulk out?"

"No!" Steve said. "We don't want to attract attention."

Natasha started shooting off guns. "Guys, we need to get the suit off him before we can put him to sleep."

"On it," Bucky said. "Wilson." Sam, Steve, and Bucky worked together to try and bring Stark down, but Stark had advantage with the suit. He focused on Steve and pinned him to the ground, his iron hands on his neck.

"Tony, please we want to help." Steve said wishing that he had his shield to help. Tony raised his iron fist. "I don't need your help."

Then everything became black.

-End of Chapter Six-

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	7. Rescue

**Chapter Seven: Rescue**

Someone was shaking Steve awake, but he had no idea who it was. But whoever that person was they just wanted him to wake up. "Rogers," that voice kept saying as they continued shaking him awake, sounding more and more impatient. "Rogers, Captain Rogers wake up."

Steve opened his blue eyes and saw someone staring at him. He recognize the chocolate brown face and the worried looking brown eyes. T'Challa otherwise known as Black Panther. He took a deep breath as he sat up, but he immediately regretted it when he felt his muscles practically scream from pain. Tony really knew what he was doing.

"Easy, easy." T'Challa said as he helped Steve up. "You don't want to hurt yourself even more."

"I'm fine," Steve said as he looked at his wounded teammates, most of them looked exhausted and injured. Natasha was pressing a cool washcloth to Peter's swollen cheek and it took all of Steve's willpower not to send the kid back to Queens. He was regretting this already. Kids shouldn't be allowed in their fights.

"Where are we? Where's Tony?" Steve demanded.

T'Challa raised his hands in mock surrender. "Look I just came here, don't bite my head off. I felt bad that I wasn't doing anything and things back home are pretty calm, so I thought I would come here and help. I talked to Director Fury and he gave me your location. When I came all of you were all unconscienced. Miss Romanoff was the only one awake and trying to patch things up. What the hell happened, Steve?"

"Tony happened," Clint said as he rubbed his forearm. "It was like he was possessed or something. We were caught off guard that's why he kicked all of asses."

"Kicked?" Scott murmured. "I would say destroyed. Burned to the ground, crisp- "

Wanda rolled her eyes. "He gets it. What was wrong with him, anyway?"

Bucky was sitting down and his eyes were hard. "HYDRA got to him. They brainwashed him, just like they did to me. They are controlling him, just like they controlled me. Stark is their puppet now."

Vision looked concerned. "There must be a way to break it, surely. Mr. Stark can't be left like this surely."

Peter shook his head stubbornly. "Mr. Stark will get through this, he has too, he wouldn't let himself be defeated by some- "

"Enough," Natasha said interrupting Peter as she put down the bandage that she was holding. Her red hair looked messy and she looked tired. "Look first things first, we better head to headquarters, back to Fury he'll know what to do."

Steve's jaw clenched and it was clear that he wanted to stay here and search for Tony, but he was outnumbered. "Steve," Bruce said gently. "Some of us are hurt, we need to head back to Fury and find Tony. It's better that we don't run around in circles."

"Fine," Steve said, his jaw clenching tightly. "Let's go."

It took them a few hours to head back to headquarters and the entire ride was filled with the kind of stony silence that is destined to make people feel uncomfortable. At first both Scott and T'Challa tried to lightened the mood, but quickly have up when they realized that everyone was in a pissed off or tired mood.

Towards the end of the journey, Scott got a call from his daughter's mother. Apparently Cassie had been in a car accident. She was fine, just a couple of bruises, but Steve saw the way that Scott's jaw had clenched. Cassie was his life. "Scott," Steve said. "Go back home, go see your daughter."

Scott looked conflicted. "What? I can't, you guys need me and what about Tony? Are we really going to let him join that evil little gang of his?"

"We can handle, Stark," Sam said as the plane landed. "Right now you need to go home to Cassie, if we need help we will call you. Besides T'Challa is here now."

Scott breathed a sigh of relief. "Really? I hate to miss the fight, I mean help Stark, but family comes first."

* * *

"Stop looking at me like that Rogers," Fury scoffed. "Glaring at me won't change my answer. I said what I said. We are trying to do everything to locate Stark, but HYDRA has the bad habit of disappearing in case you haven't noticed and finding Stark won't be as easy as you think."

"I know," Steve was trying to keep his temper in of control. "But I need you to try harder, Fury. If what Bucky said is correct, Tony can head down the slippery slope and I can't allow that."

Fury looked at him with pity. "I know that Rogers, believe me there is nothing I wouldn't do to hear Stark's annoying voice again."

They stopped talking when Maria Hill came into the room. She had an anxious look on her face and she was looking at them both with anxiety. "Director, Captain Rogers come with me there is something that you need to see."

Both of them exchanged looks as they followed Maria down to the screening room where the rest of the team was there. They were all staring at the screen. A blond reported was shaking as she delivered the news. "My name is Anne Crawley from Channel 7 news, reporting from Bulgaria. There has been a massive attack in the city of Bulgaria this morning. Thousands of people are dead as well as this beloved city has been destroyed. The culprit? A Mr. Tony Stark otherwise known as Iron Man. At first the crowd was excited to see the familiar red suit, but the excitement quickly turned to fear when they saw Stark attacking the crowd. Bulgarian police tried to stop him, but they were unsuccessful and Mr. Stark got away. Mr. Stark is currently on the wanted list, more news at nine, back to you Charlie- "

"Suit up," Fury said his voice sounding horse. "Now. Before Stark kills any more people or before he ends up killing us."

* * *

"Very good job, Mr. Stark," Vincent said back in the HYDRA headquarters as he patted Tony on the back. They were reviewing Tony's work from this morning. The sounds of people screaming were music to his ears. "Just what we expected from you."

"Of course," Tony said. "Whatever you want me to do, I'll do Hail HYDRA."

Vincent smile. "Hail HYDRA indeed Mr. Stark. Now I have another little task I want you to work on along with those new tools that you promised us."

* * *

"Peter I said no," Steve growled at the pouting fifteen-year-old boy. "This is no longer a simple rescue mission. The Tony that you knew is gone, he's brainwashed and the stakes are higher than ever I won't let you become a part of this."

"Mr. Stark would have let me," he murmured. Steve looked at him annoyed. "Well, I'm not Mr. Stark, I'm sorry Peter I'm putting my foot down and everyone agrees with me, you're staying here with Fury. They could use someone with your computer skills." He turned away from the boy and back to his team. "Is everyone ready?"

-End of Chapter Seven-

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.


	8. Consequences

**Chapter Eight: Consequences**

Steve was exhausted by the time they landed in Bulgaria. Truthfully to him it felt like they had been around the world twice in the matter of just a few short hours. The rest of the team looked exhausted as well, except for T'Challa who was grimacing as her surveyed the destruction caused by Tony. "How are we even sure that Stark is going to come back here? How do we know that he's not going to jet off somewhere else and destroy another city?"

Natasha shook her head. "I've see how HYDRA works, if they are here in Bulgaria there must be something they want or they're planning on doing something and Tony-good Tony is the puppet that is making their dreams come true. The weapons, everything has Tony's name written all over it."

Sam who had been sitting on one of the chairs near the front said, "How did they even get to him so fast? I thought HYDRA brainwashing took years for it to happen."

"It does," Bucky confirmed. "But from the looks of it, HYDRA has only gotten stronger, not to mention that is a probability that Stark went through extreme torture to- "Bucky shut his mouth when he saw everyone in the team look down with a grim expression. "Look, the point is if he was easily brainwashed then maybe it will be easier to undo everything that HYDRA did in the long run."

"I hope you're right," Clint murmured. "Because the last thing we need is a psycho Stark." Natasha whacked him on the shoulder. "Well, it's true! Stop hitting me. Tell me again why we didn't bring Parker? We lost Lang."

"We didn't bring Peter because he is still a kid." Steve scolded. "And Tony is not in his right mind, if you wanted to have Peter's death on your conscience if anything were to happen then that's on you."

Clint raised his hands in mock surrender. "Relax, Rogers I just thought that he would be a good addition to the team. The kid is talented and I doubt he's happy over the fact that he has to be back at SHIELD being babysitted by Fury."

Bruce interrupted their babbling by announcing, "We're here." He landed the Quinjet in the outskirts of the city near a small forest which would make hiding the quinjet easier. Wanda crossed her arms across her chest. "So what do we do now? Do we just wait? What if we have to wait long."

"I don't think we will." Vision said.

"What makes you say that?"

"Because I see Mr. Stark right now." The rest of the Avengers turned towards the direction that Vision was looking at and they saw a familiar red suit flying at full speed.

"He's right," Bucky said. "He's heading towards the center of the city."

Steve nodded, clutching his Captain America shield, it felt weird having it in his arms again as if he didn't deserve it. Vision had gotten it to him from the tower saying that it would be better for all of them in the long run if Steve had it.

"Sam, can you and Wanda and Vision head towards the city. Bucky, T'Challa, Natasha, Bruce, Clint and I will catch up on foot. Try to stop Tony if you can, but he won't be in his right mind for the most part."

Wanda nodded, "Got it. I'll try to subdue him for a few seconds at least and then you can knock him down."

Steve nodded. "Sounds like a plan." He turned to Bruce. "We might need you to turn."

Bruce nodded. "Got it, but if it's not necessary, I won't."

The non-flying members quickly headed towards the city and the closer they got to the city they saw that they were outnumbered. Wanda was in the air trying to subdue Tony with her mind powers, but was proving unsuccessful, not to mention that it seemed to be taking a toll on her.

Besides Tony there were hundreds of little gray drones surrounding the city and blasting off guns and powder. Vision and Sam were trying to pull them off the populace. "Captain, a little help please."

"You guys go." Clint told them as he got his bow and arrow ready and Natasha positioned her guns. "We'll deal with the drones; you deal with Tony. Wanda won't be able to handle him for much longer."

Steve nodded. "Got it."

T'Challa used his super speed and strength to jump and dig his claws against Tony's armor leg, momentarily distracting Tony from Wanda. Wanda used that opportunity to use her telekinesis to slam him against the wall.

Tony quickly got up, however but Bucky pressed him against the wall, gripping him roughly against his shoulders. "Tony, listen to me. Listen to me, this is not you. This is not who you are."

"Get off me." Tony hissed as he pushed Bucky to the ground.

T'Challa came behind him and gripped him by the neck, forcing him to let go off Bucky. "Let him go, Stark. Don't you remember us, we're your friends!"

"You're no friends of mine," Tony snapped as his eyes narrowed towards the rest of his former team. He paused for a bit, they looked familiar. Something flashed inside his head, why did they looked so familiar? Why did he recognize them? He felt something sharp against the back of his head as everything became black.

Bucky looked up and saw that Steve had knocked Tony out with the Captain American shield. "Really, Steve what about easing into things?"

"Sorry," Steve said sheepishly. "I panicked. Look we needed to get Tony restrained. I didn't know if we were going to have a chance to do that again, sorry I panicked. I didn't hit him that hard, I'm sure his helmet took most of the beating."

"Still we should get Natasha to give him that sleep medication," T'Challa said. "We don't want him waking up in the middle and killing us all. What happens now?"

"Now we go home and try to fix him."

* * *

Tony felt as if someone was chasing him, then he felt as if he couldn't breathe. Someone was grabbing him by his shoulders and shaking him forcing him to stay awake and there was pain. There was so much pain.

Tony felt a sharp pain in his chest and he sat up, he felt himself both sweating and shaking as his brown eyes went across the room in a panic. Where the hell was he?

The hospital.

He was sure that he was in a hospital there were dull, dreary walls and there were monitors everywhere. There was something poking him at his arm and he hated it. He gritted his teeth and pulled at it.

"Fuck."

"You really shouldn't do that, you were dehydrated. Dr. Willis said it was a miracle that you didn't pass out." Steve said as he entered the room. "Do you know who I am, T'Challa said he wasn't sure if the drugs would work out."

"Of course I know who you are," Tony scoffed, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't confused. What the hell had happened? And he wasn't that thrilled to see Steve to be honest. "Why wouldn't I? And why are you talking about T'Challa I thought he was happily ruling his kingdom. Steve what aren't you telling me? Spit it out."

"There was an accident, Tony,"

-End of Chapter Eight-

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	9. Watch Me

**Chapter Nine: Watch Me**

"Will you please just tell me what happened and you know I never say, please." Tony said half-jokingly to lighten the mood, but it was clear that it was not working. It didn't help that his joints ached and that half of his face felt numb as if someone had been constantly punching that side of his face. He desperately needed more pain meds.

The tiny hospital room had slightly become more crowded as Clint, Natasha, and Bruce had decided to join Steve after informing him that only four people were allowed in the tiny room and that Wanda, Vision, Sam and T'Challa were outside waiting their turn.

Tony hated the fact that they weren't saying anything. They were just staring at him as if someone had died and that just made Tony more anxious and it made his skin crawl. He tried to remember what happened, he really did. But he couldn't, not at the moment however. He could just remember flashed of pain and screaming and lots of darkness. He felt a chill go down his spine. Not exactly pleasant.

"Guys," Tony said annoyed. "Will you just tell? This is getting really old, not to mention that you guys staring at me like the end of the world is coming isn't really helping. Will you just tell me, was it Loki? Did Thor's weird brother come and knocked me on my head or something because the little weasel- "

"It wasn't Loki, Tony," Bruce said looking tightlipped. "You've been going through an ordeal, a long and terrible ordeal. Do you remember anything? Anything about it?"

Tony looked confused then he grew annoyed. "Seriously, guys. These little mind games are totally not helping. Will you just spit out what I went through, because my mind is blank and none of you will look me in the eye. Romanoff? Will you care to enlightened me?"

Natasha didn't say much at first, but unlike the rest of them she looked at Tony in the eye. "Stark something happened, it has been two weeks since your ordeal, since you were placed in the hospital in order to deal with your injuries- "

"Nat," Clint said sharply next to her. "Fury- "

"Fury doesn't give orders anymore. Stark asked and I'm going to tell him, just like he would do the same for me." Tony looked at her appreciatively as Natasha continued. "You were captured by HYDRA under the orders of their current leader Vincent. He knew that you were in a weak spot and that you were smart and knew how to create impressive weapons. He captured you and when you refused to help him, he started torturing you and eventually he ordered brainwashing the same kind that was used on the Winter Soldier-on Bucky I mean. Bucky had the idea that although brainwashing takes years since they speed up the process that it might be easier to remove it. We took you to Wakanda once most of your internal injuries were healed, T'Challa's scientists have been working on a new prototype to help Bucky undo his brainwashing they used it on you instead. It seemed it worked."

"Really, are you sure?" Tony said, slightly annoyed. "Because I think it worked a little too well, I can't remember anything."

The four of them exchanged looks. "You can't remember anything at all, what they did to you or what they- "he hesitated. "Did?"

"Clint!" Natasha and Steve snapped.

Clint shook his head. "Look, I know Stark. He thinks like me in this case, he wouldn't like it if we hid anything from him. Just like I don't like it when you sugarcoat that time I was being mind control by Loki." Clint thought bitterly. "I may not have like it, but it was me, I killed those people. I might not have been in my right mind, but it was no excuse. Tony, if you want to know we'll tell you."

Tony nodded. "Spill it out, Rogers now. I don't care if the news is pretty or not. I can take it. You know I will find out anyway. What did I do when I was HYDRA's lapdog for the past few weeks?"

For a second nobody responded and Tony was actually grateful when Bruce took the lead in the conversation. "Well, after they brainwashed you, they send you, well you in your suit to Bulgaria. We don't know why exactly; we think it's to extract some information. Or maybe they just did it to gain some attention and laugh in our faces. Tony. . .you caused several destructions in Bulgaria. You attacked the populace and destroyed buildings and lots of people were killed. We tried to stop you, but we couldn't figure out how without hurting you. We didn't know how much damaged HYDRA had done to you physically."

Tony's jaw clenched and they saw him go pale. Tony turned back to them and said. "That's not all, is it? What else happened, tell me Bruce. I'm dying here."

Bruce looked at the rest of the team, but none of them would meet his eyes and Bruce forced himself to continue. "You created drones and once again attacked the Bulgaria. Over 500 people were killed before we were able to stop you and before we were able to stop the drones. I'm really sorry Tony."

Natasha shook her head and squeezed Tony's hand. "Listen to me Stark, this is not your fault." Natasha continued. "You were brainwashed, this was beyond your power of control, so don't beat yourself up for it. No one is blaming you."

Tony looked at Natasha dryly. "Wow, things must be really bad if Natasha is feeling bad for me. I must have really screwed up."

Clint cleared his throat. "Um, guys maybe we should let Tony rest up. Do you want us to let anyone come in, I know Sam and Peter wanted to say hi? Fury was bringing him."

"No," Tony said, "I don't want to see anyone. Tell Peter to go home, Aunt May shouldn't worry."

* * *

"What is taking them so long?" Wanda asked Vision. She had never been a fan of hospitals and she had always thought they were too creepy and weird. Plus, the hospital scent made her sick to her stomach. "Do you think they will tell Stark about. . ."

Vision was sitting a few feet away, sitting perfectly upright. "I'm sure they will, they would not like to keep it hidden from Mr. Stark."

"No doubt Tony will find out as well," T'Challa said as he stood up. He checked his phone. "I have to go. I can't leave Wakanda for so long."

Sam nodded. "We understand, I'll let them know. Thanks for your help, man." T'Challa nodded as he exited the hospital with the rest of his bodyguards in tow. Sam turned to Bucky. "What's with you, you look like you're going to throw up."

"I am," Bucky said. "The stench, it's not- "without another word he went to the nearest bathroom.

Sam snorted. "Some assassin."

Wanda rolled her eyes. "Be nice. We wouldn't be able to handle half of the crap he has gone through."

Sam looked up. "The question is will Stark?"

-End of Chapter Nine-


	10. The Darkest Hour

**Chapter Ten: The Darkest Hour**

"Why can't I see him?" Peter scowled at Steve and Steve had a feeling that he was slowing getting on Peter's hate list. The teenager showed signs of both frustrations and tiredness and Steve guessed he probably had not slept in a while because he had been worried about his mentor. Fury had told Steve that Peter obviously didn't understand the word no and had forced him to drive him himself at two in the morning otherwise he would walk all the way to New York and he didn't need the hassle with him.

Fury had dropped Peter off with Steve and had left to get some well-deserved coffee. "Is he sick? Is he in surgery? Is he brainwashed."

"No, none of those," Steve said trying not to lose his patience. "He's just been through a lot. Cut him a break will you, kid? Look I know that Stark is your mentor and I'm sure that he appreciates you being here- "

Peter sighed. "But you still won't let me see him. Got that loud and clear." He handed him a bouquet of flowers. "Will you at least give that to him. I can't buy whisky so flowers are the next best thing." He stuffed his hands into his pockets. "Well, I better go, Nat is giving me a ride back to Aunt May. My 'school trip' kind of extended its length. I don't want to worry her. Steve, but will you tell me if Mr. Stark, if he's ok I mean? You'll call me if something goes wrong?"

Steve nodded. "Of course, go rest kid."

Once Peter had left, Steve rubbed his eyes. This whole thing was taking a toll on him. He couldn't remember the last time he slept. "Here," Bucky said as he handed him a cup of coffee spiked with bourbon. "This helps."

Steve threw his old friend a grin as he took a sip. "Where did you get bourbon?"

"Sam gave it to me. I think I'm growing on him or maybe he's being passive aggressive." He paused. "So did it work?"

Steve nodded. "We think it did, I mean he's still a little confused but it's to be expected. But yes I think he's cured. I mean I think things are going to be different with the media hounding him, but it should blow over. I mean it's wasn't Stark's fault." Bucky didn't respond. "Why, you don't think that?"

Bucky hesitated. "All, I'm saying is that sometimes things aren't as easy as you may think."

Steve didn't say anything for a while. "It's late. We should go back to the tower. Get some sleep. We earned it. Vision and Bruce are staying with Tony, Nat went to take Peter home and Clint and Wanda are going with us. Sam is going back to his apartment."

* * *

"Is there anything else you need, sir?" Tony didn't answer. It seemed that he hadn't even heard Vision. A few days had passed and he had been released by the hospital. Tony had wanted to go home the following day, but Bruce had put a stop to it, by saying that his injuries needed healing.

But Tony was not stupid. He knew that the team was walking eggshells around him and they refused to hand him any technology and he winced. Perhaps things were worse than he had anticipated. "Sir?" Vision asked worried.

"Huh?" Tony said. "No, just tell Happy to bring the car around. I really don't want to be in the hospital anymore."

Vision nodded. "Peter called again, he wants to talk-"

"No," Tony said firmly. "Tell him to focus on algebra or something."

"And you have a call from Miss Potts."

Tony's heart clenched and he almost told Vision to dial the number himself, but he managed to pull himself back. "Tell her that I'm asleep or whatever, I don't want to talk."

"All right sir," Vision said, but he still sounded disapproving as if all that Tony needed to be cured was to have some sort of friendship circle and a couple of bracelets and that was it. When in reality the only thing that Tony wanted was to be passed out.

He had specifically told the team that he didn't need a hound of babysitters following him back to the tower, that he would be fine with just Vision and Happy and they seemed to finally get the message after the tenth time, but that they were welcome in the tower. The last thing that Tony wanted was to be alone. Maybe the paranoia was settling in. By some sort of sheer miracle Fury had managed to get Ross off his back so he had a few days to fix this mess. If there was anything to salvage at all if that were possible.

"Come on let's go." Tony ordered as he grabbed his leather jacket. His stomach was grumbling. Maybe he could convince Happy to stop for a cheeseburger, even if Dr. Ross told him to stay off the meat for a while.

Vision and Tony headed towards the elevators and the elevator doors clicked close. Vision looked uncomfortable and unhappy. Tony broke off the silence. "Stop that. Stop the pity party. You are not allowed to feel sorry for what happened. No one could have prevented it-"

"But I'm always in the tower," Vision insisted. "And you were left alone, after everything that happened."

"Vision," Tony warned. "Drop it, it's nobody's fault. Now stop before I turn you and your fancy parts into a toaster."

Vision nodded as the elevator doors opened leading them towards the hospital entrance. They didn't expect to see the commotion that was waiting for them. There were dozens of cars outside along with hundreds of reporters all shouting questions at Tony.

"Mr. Stark, why did you decide to join a Nazi organization?"

"Mr. Stark were you in the hospital for your injuries or for extensive rehab?"

"Mr. Stark, how do it feel to be responsible for the hundreds of lives lost? Deaths that you caused?"

Tony felt dizzy and for once his famous tongue wouldn't speak. People kept shouting questions back and forth even though Vision politely told them to step away. He saw his sleek black car and Happy calling out to him. "Move out of the way, Vultures. Tony-Mr. Stark over here! Vision why isn't he moving? Help him."

Tony could feel his heart beating inside his chest as he finally got inside the car. His palms feel sweaty and he felt like he couldn't breathe even if Vision was beside him. Everything was slowly turning black and he could still hear the screams. Where were those screams coming from?

Someone was grabbing him. Someone else was forcing something inside his mouth. Pain. "Tony," Happy broke Tony out of his nightmare. "Boss, are you ok?"

"I'm fine," Tony said as he felt his heart beating rapidly inside his chest. "Home, now."

-End of Chapter Ten-

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	11. Eclipse

**Chapter Eleven: Eclipse**

The Avengers Tower seemed different than the last time that Tony had been there. Not weird, just different. He glanced up at the sleek, modern building. He remembered being happy and thrilled every time he had parked his car and made him way up. With the Avengers there every evening it felt like he had adopted a bunch of cats. He didn't have to be alone anyone.

Not that Tony had enjoyed having them twenty four seven all the time, but still it was a nice comfort knowing that he hadn't been alone all the time. Now the tower was being hounded by reporters even though Vision and Happy were doing the best to keep them away from the car and Tony. Most of the reporters freaked out when they saw Vision so the wait didn't last too long. Tony's cell phone started ringing and he looked at it saw that it was a call from Rhodey. He must have been out from physical therapy for the day. He had been calling nonstop ever since Tony had woken up from the hospital. He hung up. He didn't want to talk to anybody.

Happy and Vision exchanged gazes, but didn't say a word. Tony had been extra moody lately and the smallest thing could set him off in a heartbeat. Fury had told them to give him space, but that didn't seem to be helping either. He went towards the main floor and saw that it was empty. "Where's everyone?"

"Fury wanted to talk to them, they will be back later," Happy said. "Boss, do you want food or anything? Is there anything that I can do for you?"

Tony shook his head. "I'm fine, Happy you can go. I'll mostly hang in here tonight. The last thing I want to do is deal with the paparazzi."

Happy nodded, though he looked uncomfortable leaving Tony alone. "Uh, sure thing, boss, but call me if you need anything. Anything at all, you have my number."

"Happy."

"Right, sorry." Happy said goodbye to Vision and immediately left.

Vision turned to Tony. "Can I get you anything sir, perhaps I could call a pizza? Or I can make you soup," he started getting weirdly excited. "I just found this most wonderful recipe for onion and potato soup- "

"Not right now, Vis," Tony murmured, his voice slightly on edge. "Is anyone here?"

"No sir, they are talking. . .they are talking with Director Fury."

He snorted. "You mean they are gossiping about me."

"No, of course not. They just want to help sir."

Tony shook his head looking sullen, "Whatever, I'm going to my lab. Don't let anyone bother me."

"But Dr. Banner recommended bed rest," Vision protested weakly. "He said that you should be resting and that you shouldn't be anywhere near your lab."

"Bye, Vis."

"But sir- "Tony ignored him as he went towards his lab. He knew that Vision wouldn't tattle no matter how much he wanted to. Vision still considered Tony his creator and therefore he was still fiercely devoted to him. He went towards his lab, taking in the familiar structure hoping that it would relax him. But it didn't seem to work at all. It just made him feel more anxious. He moved his hands slightly in his lap.

He said the password to Friday and said with specific instructions. "Don't let anyone in Friday under any circumstances unless I authorize it."

"Yes Sir."

Tony sat in his chair in front of the large, screen monitors. "What would you like to watch, sir?"

Tony gulped. "What I caused."

* * *

"No! No-are you out of your mind?" Steve turned to glare at the rest of his former teammates. Clint, Natasha, Bucky, Bruce, Wanda and Fury were crowded in a small room in Avengers headquarters. They had been talking about Tony for the past hour, but none of them seemed to reach the right conclusion. They all looked exhausted and in no room to argue. "Sending Tony to a shrink. Forcing him to sit on a couch and discuss his feelings, do you honestly think that, that is going to work."

"Do you have a better idea?" Natasha demanded. "Steve, you may not realize it now, but Tony is at his breaking point. Wether you may realize it or not the course of action that we take regarding Tony is going to determine everything. Tony is already a disaster waiting to happen."

"I agree with Steve," Clint said ignoring Natasha's glare. "Christ, Nat don't look at me like that. We're talking about Tony Stark, the most stubborn, egoistical man that we have ever met with a suit of iron and endless money. Do you really think he's going to listen to us? Do you honestly think he's going to say, 'hey, what a great idea, let me make an appointment with my shrink'?"

"Natasha is right," Fury interrupted him. "Stark, went through a lot of psychological and emotional damage and we need to address that before we lose him for good. Stark already doesn't think before he acts and what he went through can be dangerous. It's better to be safe than sorry and at this point I would rather hog tie Stark to a chair myself than take a risk like this."

Wanda looked at Fury confused. "So we should just lock Tony up and treat him like a psycho? How is that helping anyone, we are no better than HYDRA."

"Listen here, young lady- "

Clint snorted. "Stark is a lot tougher than you may think. I went through the same thing when Loki brainwashed me and yes I felt guilt, but I didn't have to- "

"It's not the same thing," Bucky blurted out. "I'm sorry, but it's not. Steve told me about the whole Loki mess and I'm sorry I know that it's bad, but what HYDRA does, what HYDRA did is much worse. You lose control of everything your life, your memories, your whole person. Unlike Loki who manipulated you with the tesseract those that fall victim to HYDRA usually go through extreme physical and psychological torture. We broke Stark from his brainwashing, but I bet a pretty penny that he remembers everything that HYDRA put him through. I don't care how stubborn and sarcastic and how much money the guy has. That kind of experience just doesn't go away."

There was a stunned silence before Bruce broke it up with a weak cough. "Well, you already know what I think. I don't think we should force Stark to do anything, but some psychological evaluation might help in the long run."

Fury nodded. "I agree with your diagnosis. We'll give Stark a few days to rest before we bring this up. Now I want all of you to keep an eye on him and tell me of any suspicious activity that you find. Do you understand?"

They nodded.

"Good work, team."

They stood up and Natasha crossed her arms over her chest. "Who's staying with Stark, tonight? I say that we rotate turns."

"Vision and I are staying with Stark," Bruce said. "I'll give you the update tomorrow."

-End of Chapter Eleven-

Thank you so much for your reviews! I really appreciate them.


	12. The Suicide Watch

**Chapter Twelve: The Suicide Watch**

Tony felt numb. He felt like he could not move or more likely he didn't want to move. He just felt pale. He was sure that his face was the same color of a sheet. "Sir?" Friday's voice shook his awake. "Are you alright? Are you in any pain? Do you require assistance?" God, even his own AI was annoying him with his protectiveness.

"No, Friday I'm fine." His own mind was going numb as he stared at the frozen screen. Had he done that? Of course, you did, a small voice in his mind scolded him. Who else would have done it?

He had brutally murdered those people, hell he had knocked down the Avengers who had been trying to help him. Those were his teammates and he had practically beaten them to a bloody pulp. He was lucky that he hadn't killed them.

His hand squeezed the edge of his seat. He wished that he could go back in time, but of course he knew that that was impossible. What the hell had happened? What the fuck had Hydra done to him.

He turned on his flat screen television and it seemed that all the news channels were talking about him. Very few of them expressed pity. In fact, many of them wanted Tony to face justice for what Tony had done even if he had been brainwashed. People were screaming and crying and shouting insults at him as they showed footage of the people that he had killed during the attack.

"Turn it off." He ordered sharply to Friday.

Friday did as she was told. He felt his heart calm down again. He knew that the tower was empty. It seemed that the team was having another Poor Tony kind of meeting. But Tony didn't want to be poor Tony anymore. He just wanted all this to be over, to disappear.

He shut the door of his lab and instructed Friday to keep everyone out and that under no circumstances should they let anyone in. Friday unlike Jarvis didn't question him and did and she was told.

Tony opened one of the drawers and found the pills that the doctors had given him for pain. He hadn't touched them yet even though Bruce thought that he should. Tony had felt desperate and hopeless before. But like all situations he had always knew that he would eventually snap out of it, like that mess with Ultron and then the whole fight with Cap.

Deep down he knew that things would resolved themselves sooner or later. But this, how the hell could he resolve this? Even Fury and the Avengers wouldn't be able to protect him forever and even if they could Tony didn't want them too. He just wanted to end it.

He shoved the pills in his mouth without batting an eye. They felt hard in his throat. He took a swing of whisky. At least he would be going out with a bang.

* * *

Ok, he wasn't breaking in. He just wanted to make sure that Mr. Stark was ok. This wasn't a felony, right? He couldn't go to jail; he hadn't even finished high school and there was no way that he was going to leave Aunt May alone.

Peter bit his lip and he decided to try the doorbell again even if he had rung it three times already and still no answer. There was a small keypad where a pin had to be entered so that he could go in, but he didn't know the passcode. However, he did know how to hack it. He didn't have the reputation for being a tech nerd in school for nothing.

He looked over his shoulder to make sure that there were no cops or anything, but everyone seemed to be hooked on their phones or drugged. With some clever fingers, he pushed a combination on the keypad. He breathed a sigh of relief when the light shown green.

Perfect.

He opened the door and saw a row of elevators with stacks of expensive furniture. Peter straightened his hoodie feeling strangely out of place. "Welcome." A smooth, female voice said and Peter recognized her immediately. It was Friday. Stark's sidekick or something.

"Hi Friday!" Peter was glad for a familiar voice even if he couldn't exactly see the person.

"Good evening, Mr. Parker. How may I help you?"

"I came to see Mr. Stark. Is he here, Friday?"

"I'm not allowed to give that information."

Peter blinked. "I just want to know if he's here. I just want to say hi, I can't be long. It's Aunt May's roast beef night. Hey, do you know if Mr. Stark likes roast beef maybe he can join us!"

"I'm sorry Mr. Parker, but Mr. Stark requested that I didn't give out that information."

Peter crossed his arms over his chest. Was he hiding from him? "Can I go upstairs?"

"Help yourself," Friday said. "The main living room is on the eight floor as well as the kitchen and bar."

"And the lab?"

"Mr. Banner's lab is on the 10th floor and Mr. Stark's on the 11th floor."

"Got you, thanks Friday."

Peter went towards the elevators and clicked on the 8th floor which led him towards the living room. He saw no one there and there were only a few cases of takeout food. Seeing that it was empty Peter decided to go to the lab instead. He was sure that he would have better luck there.

He went up towards the eleventh floor and noticed that there was a glass door and another passcode box. He saw Tony's back and guessed that Tony was asleep because his head was laying down against his desk.

He knocked on the door. "Mr. Stark, Mr. Stark it's Peter can I come in?"

"No one is allowed in the laboratory." Friday's voice was sharp. "That was Mr. Stark' specific request."

"Mr. Stark!" Peter knocked harder on the door. He tried the same trick that he had done with the door, but it didn't work this time. The light flashed red. "Mr. Stark! Hi, it's Peter. Spiderman, I just wanted to see how you were doing and um and do you like roast beef because Aunt May makes this fantastic roast beef and I'm sure that she wouldn't mind if I brought you along. Mr. Stark?"

Peter's jaw nearly hit the floor when he saw Tony's limp body fall to the floor. "Oh my god, Mr. Stark. Mr. Stark, are you ok, Mr. Stark. Please Friday you need to let me in, maybe Mr. Stark is sick or he needs help."

"I'm afraid that I can't let you in Mr. Parker, this is under Mr. Stark's orders."

Peter looked back at Tony and noticed that there were white bubbles forming around his mouth. He started panicking and the only numbers he had were of Tony and Nat. Nat of course. He dialed Nat's number and a crisp voice answered him on the other end. "Hello?"

"Hi!" Peter managed to say. "Um, Nat, I need you to come to the tower, Mr. Stark I think he's sick. I'm no doctor, but there is white foam on his mouth, I think he's dying."

-End of Chapter Twelve-

Sorry that I haven't updated, school has been busy. Please review!


	13. Wish You Well

**Chapter Thirteen: Wish You Well**

Peter was panicking. Natasha had told him that she had called an ambulance and that they would be on their way soon, but traffic in New York was crazy. "Friday!" he pleaded. "How about you let me in now."

"I'm afraid I can't, Mr. Parker." Friday said with a slight tone of regret. "But I can't- "

"You can't let me in, got it." Peter said slightly irritated. He doubted that Mr. Stark was going to like what he was about to do, but at this point what he wanted mattered very little to Peter. His life was at stake. He punched the glass door several times until it broke. Peter was sure that he had broken his fist since Stark had put some special kind of glass, but he would think about that later. What mattered now was making sure that Mr. Stark was ok.

Peter raced towards Tony and checked his pulse. It was there barely, but the white foam was still coming out of Tony's mouth making Peter panicky. Tony couldn't just die. He needed to save him, but he didn't know anything about healing. He himself healed rather quickly. "Friday, how much time does he have left?"

"13 minutes, Mr. Parker." Crap, they couldn't wait for the nearest ambulance. Peter would have to think of a new way to make sure that Tony was ok. He could use his web shooters to get him to the nearest hospital.

Yes, that's what he needed to do. It was the only way that Tony would live. He easily grabbed Tony and covered him with web and strapped him to his back as if he were a pack mule. He raced to the bottom of the tower and then he finally heard an ambulance and he relaxed. "Finally,"

"Peter!" Steve shouted as he got down from his motorcycle. Bucky followed closed behind him, Peter didn't know how they fit in such a small bike. Steve looked so pale that he was sure that he was going to throw up.

"What happened?" Bucky asked. "Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," Peter blurted out. For some reason, he couldn't tear himself away from where the EMT's were taking Tony to the ambulance. "I came to visit Mr. Stark. I just wanted to make sure that he was ok and then I saw him, I saw him on the floor and he looked. . .he looked dead. I saw an empty pill container. He tried to kill himself."

Peter didn't realize that he had been shaking until Steve placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's ok, Son. You did the right thing."

Bucky nodded. "He's right you might have saved Stark's life."

"Can I come with you to the hospital?"

Bucky and Steve exchanged looks. "All right, but only for an hour or two we don't want to worry your aunt."

* * *

Tony blinked and it took him a moment for him to realize that if he felt something that surely meant that he was not dead. He held back a ground mostly because his throat ached so badly as if someone had scrapped his throat with a knife

The room was dark and he felt weak, much like when they had rescued him from HYDRA the first time. It took him a moment for his vision to settle down. When it did he saw, that Steve was sitting down in a small stool next to his bed.

Mr. Handsome looked disappointed and he was frowning at him. Great. He had disappointed Mr. Captain America. Tony's entire body ached as he noticed that he was wearing itchy hospital robes and his hands were restrained in heavy restraints. He was surprised that they hadn't chained his head to the bed. "What the hell, Rogers?"

"Necessary precautions," Steve said with an edge to his voice. "We didn't want this to happen again. Be grateful that we didn't use a stunt gun, this was us being nice."

Tony raised an eyebrow, not really in the mood for Steve's attitude. "Surprise, surprise you're pissed."

"Of course, I'm pissed Tony I'm your friend." He snapped. "After all that you been through imagine how we felt, how Peter felt when he found you passed out in your office because you shoved a bunch of pills down your throat because you were trying to end your life."

"Peter found me?" Tony demanded. "What was Peter doing there, Steve. He's a kid, shouldn't he be doing algebra or something."

Steve was not amused. "This isn't about Peter, it's about you. You tried to kill yourself and you almost seceded. Why did you tell us that you were feeling like this, Tony?"

"What was I supposed to tell you, Steve?" Tony said losing his temper. "You wouldn't have understood. No one would have understood what I was going through. What HYDRA did and how they got inside my head."

Steve threw him a look of pity. "Then you could have talked to Bucky. He knew what you were going through. You could have talked to any one of us, Tony. We're your friends. We could have helped you."

Tony looked stubbornly away. "We thought we were going to lose you," Steve said going for the guilt tripping. "You nearly died, they had to pump your stomach twice."

He rolled his eyes. "Ok, Rogers I get it. Enough with the guilt trip, just leave and get a nurse to take off these stupid restraints."

"I'll leave." Steve agreed, "but the restraints stay on."

"Rogers- "

"No, Tony!" Steve threw him a dirty look. "The restraints stay on. We almost lost you and that's not going to happen again. I won't risk it."

A week later Tony finally got out of the hospital and he was immediately ordered to go to the new in construction SHIELD headquarters. No doubt for another scolding, no one would look at him in the eye which frustrated him to no end.

They probably though he was a lunatic. They were all sitting down at the round table and Fury was staring at him with a mixture of pity and frustration as if wondering if he should hug him or lock him in a panic room.

"Thank you everyone for coming, the matter that we will be discussing today is HYDRA." Fury said. "Bucky and I along with Agent Romanoff and a few other agents have been working to end them finally."

Tony snorted. "Yes, because that has worked out so well."

Fury raised an eyebrow. "This might interest you, Stark because we finally have a lead."

-End of Chapter Thirteen-

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	14. Chip

**Chapter Fourteen: Chip**

"You have a lead?" Tony asked sourly. "Like I never heard that before."

Fury gave him a pointed look that basically told him to shut up and let him explain. "A real lead this time, Stark." Tony didn't say anything, but gave them an exaggerated hand gesture that told them to proceed.

Fury nodded as he pointed to the big screen that showed a map from around the world. The screen started beeping and it finally landed on Russia. Tony raised an eyebrow. "Russia? Those bastards are chilling in Russia? How do you know?"

"We don't know exactly, but Dr. Banner seems to have a theory. Dr. Banner?"

Bruce cleared his throat. "I've been working on this since we brought you back Tony-well Peter has helped a little. We just completed it a few days ago, and we could locate it more easily. Ironically this happened while you were in the hospital getting treated."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "I'm not following."

Natasha leaned forward in her seat and explained. "Bruce ran a bunch of tests while you were in the hospital claiming that there had to be a reason that you would attempt suicide. That you wouldn't give in without a fight." Tony flushed. "Well, he was right. He found something. A chip."

Tony frowned. "A chip? Like a computer chip, where the hell is it?"

"It's around your neck," Clint said pointing to his own neck. "It's very small, it's unusual but not uncommon. I've seen it before during missions. They plant a chip in the person. It's small, but powerful and they use that to control the person. Kind of like their own personal robot."

"Great," Tony said dryly. "Just what I needed, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't happy over the fact that Bruce had found out how HYDRA had mind control him. But the suicide attempt that had been all him fueled by desperation. He still needed to talk to Peter. He had a feeling that finding him half dead in his lab had not been a pleasant experience.

Tony turned to Bucky who had been sitting in the conference room grimacing to himself, but generally not offering any feedback. "Did they do the same thing to you?"

Bucky looked surprised that Tony was even speaking to him, though the last time that they had talked they had nearly killed each other in the process. Bucky shook his head. "No with me it was words remember? They would give me these long lists of words and they would trigger something and I would be you know. . .the Winter Soldier."

Tony nodded as he turned back to Fury. "So, you used how they were using me to track them down. Nice. So now that we know where their sorry asses are hiding, I want you to remove the chip."

Fury nodded. "Of course, Dr. Banner will do it as soon as we're done here."

Tony settled into his chair, relaxing for the first time in months. "Perfect."

* * *

"Does it hurt?" Bruce asked Tony as Tony closed his eyes when he saw Bruce aim some sort of sharp tool towards his neck. "Tell me if it hurts and I'll stop."

"For the last time, Banner it doesn't hurt, you have hands as gentle as a dove." Tony murmured. "Besides you gave me the good drugs remember."

"Stop talking Tony. Oh, there it is. Gotcha." Tony saw as Bruce removed a small square from his neck the size of cracker. "That was inside of me? How pathetic." Tony felt a jolt in his chest.

Bruce frowned as he looked at Tony concerned. "Tony, are you ok?" He saw as Tony sat up rather abruptly and his eyes flashed as he put his hands to the side of his pounding head. He felt strange and miserable and just…wrong. All the blank spots in his life, the ones that he couldn't remember from his horrible memory seemed to be coming back in a flash.

They didn't seem to stop. Suddenly he remembered everything. He remembered how HYDRA's minions had tortured him endlessly, pushing him to his breaking point, ignoring his pleas once he had finally succumbed to them. He could hear his own screams inside his head.

Bruce was shaking him looking worried. "Tony, what is it?"

Tony looked at him, his face pale and his breath shaky. "I remember."

* * *

Tony was getting desperate. He knew that the team was right and that they should think of an actual "plan" instead of barging in like Tony wanted to, but could they honestly blame Tony for wanting to kill the bastards already? They had tortured him and made him hate his life more than he already did.

He wanted payback and he was going to get it sooner rather than later. Tony winced as he looked at the cup that he was holding. Steve had changed all the whisky that he had in his house for apple juice. The sneaky bastard.

He heard a knock on the door and saw that it was Peter. Tony sighed as he opened the door and Peter nearly knocked him down as he hugged him tightly. "You're ok, Mr. Stark you're ok!"

"Yes, I'm fine, Parker stop squeezing me so hard and for future references we don't hug ever." Peter looked slightly disappointed. "Fine on very rare occasions, but that is it."

Peter nodded as he started rambling. "I'm so glad that you're ok, Mr. Stark I thought you would be dead, I mean you looked dead. I started freaking out- "

"Peter," Tony interrupted Spiderman's rabbling. "Thank you."

Peter nodded, looking pleased with himself. "Anytime. Whatever you want Mr. Stark."

Tony winced. "No offense, kid, but this isn't exactly something I'm eager to repeat." Peter nodded. "Gotcha."

Friday interrupted their conversation. "Sir, I have a message for you," she started breaking up. "I. .do not know who. . .the sender is. . .System overruled."

Suddenly Peter and Tony were staring at the screen in front of them. They saw a strawberry blond woman being tied against a chair. Her cheeks were flushed and her face was covered with tears. "Tony." She choked out. "Tony!"

Tony balked as he felt the fury threaten to explode inside his chest. "Pepper!"

-End of Chapter Fourteen-

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	15. Kill Me

**Chapter Fifteen: Kill Me**

"Stark, do you need someone to cover for you?" Clint asked tiredly for what felt like the fiftieth time since they had departed for Russia via the Quintjet. They had been flying for hours, yet it seemed that Stark had hardly taken so much as a bathroom break.

After he and Peter had viewed the video from HYDRA that Pepper was currently being held hostage, he had immediately ordered Fury to give him a Quintjet. If Fury thought that this was a bad plan, he didn't say anything. Instead he had given the ok to Wanda, Vision, Sam, Clint, Steve, Natasha, Bruce, Bucky, and even Peter to follow Tony into the unknown to get rid of HYDRA finally and to rescue Pepper.

But Stark had been driving since they had left New York and had hardly talked to anyone, while the rest of them seemed to be huddled against the corner of the Quintjet talking strategy and every so often looking at Stark.

"No," he said. "I'm fine."

Clint looked back at Natasha who was giving him a sharp well-do-something expression. Clint tried again, briefly wondering why Nat wasn't giving Tony the evil eye instead of him. "Stark, you just got out of the hospital, you need to rest. You can't be all sleep deprive when we finally get to Russia."

"I'm fine, Barton." Tony said. "You can assure everyone else that I'm fine too and that I can hear the murmuring about me behind my back. Why don't you leave me to fly in peace and why don't you and the rest of the team talk strategy or at the very least help Peter with his English homework instead of worrying about me."

Clint went back to the team and said defensively. "Hey, I tried my best. The guy doesn't budge. Have we gotten anywhere yet with the plan of attack?"

"No," Bruce snorted. "I can't believe we have been at this for hours and we still haven't figure out what we're going to do."

Bucky shrugged. "It's not that hard to believe. We have no idea what these people are going to do and where. We need to find out where their headquarters are first."

Peter put down his Grapes of Wrath book that he was supposed to be reading for his English class. "And then we're going to attack, right? Better them than us, right?"

"You're staying far away from them," Natasha said. "I want you with one Avenger at all times." Peter pouted. "I'm serious Peter this is not the time to show off. These guys are dangerous."

Peter murmured something about handling himself and Natasha choose to ignore the remark. Wanda raised her head as she looked out the small window and she stiffened slightly and only relaxed when Vision placed a reassuring hand against her shoulder. "We're here."

A few minutes later Tony parked the plane in an area in where it would not be easily visible. The air was cold as they got out and it stung their cheekbones. Wanda shivered, she couldn't see anything but dirt, piles of rocks, and trees. "What now?" she blurted out.

"Tony's chip said that their headquarters was around here somewhere." Bucky said.

"Vision? Friday, see if you can find anything," Tony ordered as his Iron Man helmet fell across his face. He felt anxious which in an honesty wasn't rare especially these days. But now he was worried about Pepper. He would rather get tortured himself than watch Pep suffer.

"I found something sir," Friday chirped. "An unknown location is located 7.2 miles from here."

"Great," Tony perked up as he looked in Steve's direction. "Cap?"

Steve nodded, taking command. "Right, I think we need to go in the direction that Friday pointed out. Like she said the unknown location might be a part of HYDRA headquarters. Peter, you'll stay here and you'll let us know if there is anything strange going on."

"Oh, come on Cap!" Peter pouted. "Surely, I can do more than that, I mean you saw me at the airport."

"We all saw you," Sam said with a small eyeroll. "Look, Kid I agree with Steve. Things are going to be much safer for you here."

"I'll stay with him," Bruce offered. "I think I would cause too much of a commotion if. . .the big green guy made too much of a mess. I'll be here with Peter though. So, if things get crazy call me."

Peter still looked disappointed, but Tony wasn't moved by the kid's pouting, Parker might hate him now, but he was trying to keep him safe. "All right, team then I guess- "

A loud explosion interrupted Tony's monologue as they turned around to where the explosion occurred. They heard another one behind them and smoke was quickly appearing as it stung their eyes. "It's an ambush." Bucky coughed slightly.

Natasha let out a small gasp of pain as something pierced her leg. She pulled it out and saw that it was a small knife. She dropped the knife to the floor and gripped her gun. "There are a lot of them here. Guys, prepare yourself. Peter stay close to everyone at all time."

"Stark," Steve murmured. "Go with Pepper. My guess is that she is where Friday told us she was."

"Rogers, be serious I can't leave you guys here." Tony murmured back.

"Trust me, there are plenty of us and we can't risk those guys hurting Miss Potts or anyone else. Just go, Tony now before anyone sees. We'll take care of this."

Tony nodded. "Thanks, Cap."

* * *

Tony felt bad that he was leaving his teammates to fend for themselves, but there were many of them and only one Pepper and besides they had more than enough teammates to kick everyone's asses, not to mention that HYDRA members would be too busy trying to destroy the Avengers that they wouldn't give a rat's ass about where Tony was. "Come on, go faster." Tony murmured to himself, but he was going as fast as he could possibly go. He made a mental note to make repairs as soon as he got home and Pepper was safe.

"Approaching the target, sir." Friday said as Tony finally saw a small building that looked no bigger than a schoolhouse and that was covered by the heavy snow. "Friday, calculate the best route for me to enter the building unseen."

"Calculating," Friday said and a few seconds later she spoke again. "There sir, by the small tower on the East side, there are no guards there."

"Got you." Tony said as he landed where Friday had indicated, the small tower had a small door to get in and out and Tony knocked it down without a second thought. Tony was surrounded by gray walls and a couple of handlebars, but nothing special, there just seemed to be a bunch of empty rooms. "Friday," he murmured. "Search for any life force quietly."

"Searching." Friday said. "First floor. Third door on the left. The presence of a woman Coast is clear. You're safe sir."

Tony felt himself relaxed. "Thanks Friday. Now let's go get Pepper."

-End of Chapter Fifteen-

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